Stephanie Davidson’s Illustrations Are Worth the Hype

There’s something uniquely fresh about Stephanie Davidson’s illustrations. From her witty cartoon to her standout color pallets, Davidson’s work is contemporary to the max (but don’t call her a hipster).

Born in Hong Kong, grown in Tokyo/Honolulu and now living in Brooklyn, NYC, she draws her inspiration from her multicultural background.

“It’s hard to say where I’m from,” she explained in an interview with Les Femmes Folles. “Half Chinese and half Caucasian, I was born in Hong Kong, raised in Tokyo, and attended middle/high school in Honolulu. Though it says Hong Kong on my birth certificate and my parents still live in Hawaii, I believe I spent my most formative years in Tokyo. It’s still my favorite city and I feel the need to return every couple of years to re-up on the weird inspiration I get from being there.”

With a BFA in Illustration, Davidson is currently working as a designer at Cash App. “I have always been a maker and a drawer so it was an easy decision to seek out an art school when I was given the option,” she went on to say. “I have a strong memory of my mother’s sister asking me when I was 5 or 6, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I told her, ‘An artist.’ She snorted and said (to my mother), ‘Ah! A career that makes no money.’ Money or no, I’m an artist. Bite me, Aunt Grace.”

“She has a large cat and loves all the things that go bump in the night,” says her short, witty, bio. But feminism also has a role in her creative work, saying that “feminism definitely plays a strong role in my work and everything I do. While I’m not creating ‘political art’ per say, the fact that I myself am a mixed race female illustrator informs much of my work.”